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Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Official promises steps to removeencroachments from Bidar Fort

Source: The Hindu

Efforts will be made to remove encroachments from Bidar Fort, Deputy Commissioner H.R. Mahadev said here on Monday. At a meeting of the District Tourism Promotion Council meeting, he told officers to hold meetings with the 47 families that are living inside the 600-acre heritage structure.

Archaeological Survey of India officials said that rules regarding heritage structure did not allow human settlements in the vicinity of monuments.

Dr. Mahadev said that the rules would be followed and assured ASI officials of shifting the families out of the fort by giving them alternative houses or sites.

ASI officials also asked Dr. Mahadev to clear their long-pending demand of handing over the management of the Barid Shahi Silver Jubilee Park with the district administration and to stop ticket collection at the monument.

Dr. Mahadev asked Balbhim Kamble, project director, District Urban Development Cell, to study the advantages of retaining the management of the park with the district administration against handing it over to the ASI.

Officials said that the district administration had built a park around the Barid Shahi tombs to stop attempts to encroach upon the land belonging to the monument in the early 1990s.

Since then, the Horticulture Department was managing the park.

He instructed Kishor Joshi, assistant director of Tourism, to send a proposal prepared by Deccan Heritage Foundation to develop the Ali Barid tomb into a garden to the ASI for approval.

He asked Deccan Heritage Foundation representatives to explain in detail the importance and implications of all the heritage tourism works initiated in Bidar, in a gathering of public representatives and civil society groups in the next meeting. The Deputy Commissioner said that a coordination committee of officials from various departments would monitor tourism promotion works in the district in future.

IIT Hyderabad representatives spoke about the structural engineering involved in the construction of the Karez and warned against allowing construction on top of the high risk zones of the subterranean water body.